Nirmal and Somasila from Telangana emerged winners in the best tourism villages competition-2024 announced by the Ministry of Tourism on Friday. Nirmal won the contest in craft category while Somasila in spiritual and wellness category. Nirmal district Additional Collector Faizan Ahmed along with the Nirmal Toys Arts Society president S Pentaiah received the award at a ceremony organized by the Ministry of Tourism in Vignan Bhavan in New Delhi.
Nagarkurnool district tourism department officer T Narasimha received the award. Vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar presented the awards while Union Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat presided over the ceremony. Ahobilam in Andhra Pradesh also emerged victorious in the spiritual and wellness category, according to the Ministry of Tourism.
The Ministry announced the winners of the best tourism villages’ competition-2024 on the occasion of World Tourism Day today. It said that to promote tourism to the Soul of India (India’s villages), the best tourism villages competition was introduced in 2023. The focus was to identify and recognize villages which preserve and promote cultural and natural assets through community-based values and commitment to sustainability in all aspects.
The first edition of the competition in 2023 saw applications from 795 villages. In the second edition of the competition, a total of 991 applications were received from 30 States and UTs, out of which 36 villages were recognized as winners across eight cat.
